E-commerce giant, Amazon, has secured clearance from the US government to go ahead with its plan to deliver packages by drones.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) designated Amazon Prime Air an “air carrier,” the company announced on Monday, allowing it to start its commercial deliveries in the US under a trial program.

Amazon said the approval is an “important step,” for the company as it seeks to dramatically reduce delivery times, but noted that the company is still testing the set-up and did not say when it expects to officially make deliveries via drone to its customers.

FAA's approval makes Amazon the third company to secure drone delivery service approval from the FAA following UPS and Wing, the subsidiary of Google.

“This certification is an important step forward for Prime Air and indicates the FAA’s confidence in Amazon’s operating and safety procedures for an autonomous drone delivery service that will one day deliver packages to our customers around the world,” said David Carbon, Amazon Prime Air vice president in a statement.

He added that Amazon will “work closely with the FAA and other regulators around the world to realize our vision of 30-minute delivery.”

Last year, the Seattle-based retail behemoth said it is looking to shift delivery for Prime users to one-day from the current two-day shipping.